It is our pleasure to announce the winners of the 2nd annual Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering art contest. From a total of 35 submission from 18 individuals, Victoria Lozano Escarra, Jungeun Lim, and Danielle Brown (last year’s winner) were selected to receive BME swag! Their inspiring pieces captivated the imagination of the judges* based on the imagery, creativity, and message of their work. The top 10 ranked images will be displayed in the Whitaker building Art Display throughout the year!

Congratulations to the selected artists and thank you to those who participated.

*Submissions were judged by the Biomedical Engineering Alliance for Minorities (BEAM) student group.

1st Place: Victoria Lozano Escarra (undergraduate) for her drawing titled, Flowering Skull.

Artist statement:
“I explored the relationship between the human body, both metaphorically and physically. I drew inspiration from the medical illustrations from Frank H. Netter and old botanical illustrations.  I experimented with different media combinations: watercolor, color pencil, and ink. Nature is rich in complex details and patterns that have dictated the evolution of the world -- animals and humankind.” – Victoria Lozano Escarra
 

2nd Place: Jungeun Lim (Ph.D. candidate) for her image titled, Watery stars to extinguish a fire.

Artist statement:
“This image is a confocal image for blood vessels co-cultured with brain organoid in microfluidic in vitro model. In this platform, astrocytes (grey-GFAP) migrated from brain organoid reach blood vessels (red-CD31). As physiological relevance, astrocytes extinguish the original phenotype of endothelium through their interaction, which induces the specific features of the brain-blood barrier phenotype. In terms of their function and appearance, watery stars (star-shaped astrocytes) seem to extinguish a fire (feature of blood vessels).” – Jungeun Lim
 

3rd Place: Danielle Brown (undergraduate) for her drawing titled, Anorexia (SKIN AND BONES).

Artist statement:
“This drawing and poster represent anorexia. This drawing is a mixture of both art and anatomy. It shows that this girl is struggling, as well as she has legitimate bones showing from where her body has cracked away like porcelain. She also has an eating disorder tattoo on her side. This is mental illness and disorder that BMEs and psychiatrists have been looking into for a long time attempting to assess what exactly is missing within the brain, and certain ways to solve it.” – Danielle Brown